Antonio Conte blames fatigue after Chelsea are held to third straight stalemate

Antonio Conte blames fatigue after Chelsea are held to third straight stalemate

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Edward Snyder
|
14 January, 2018, 00:48

The draw leaves them 15 points adrift of leaders Manchester City, who play today at Liverpool, and Conte believed his side had suffered from having to play on Wednesday while Leicester had not been in action since last Saturday.

But Leicester held on for the draw which leaves Chelsea on 47 points, the same as second-placed Manchester United, who play on Monday at home to struggling Stoke City.

A comfortable victory against Leicester with Morata among the goals would get Chelsea nicely back on track ahead of the midweek FA Cup replay with Norwich and trips to Brighton in the league, then Arsenal for the decisive second leg of that Carabao Cup semifinal.

'To play Wednesday night and then against a really good team after only two days and a half.

With all that put together, it is hard not to pick Chelsea to win this game.

Asked about Morata's poor display at Stamford Bridge, Conte said: 'I think the problem is the team, not only Morata.

That being said, Toffees manager Sam Allardyce indicated prior to Barkley's move he could be fit in "early January", meaning a week in Chelsea training could be sufficient for the player to feature in some aspect.

Saturday's clash sees the Premier Leaguewinners from the last two seasons go head to head, although neither have realistic hopes of competing for the title this time around.

Chelsea did not manage to build up any momentum against Claude Puel's outfit at the Bridge as they attempted to end their recent barren run.

Chelsea'sGary Cahill leaves the pitch with medical staff with an apparent hamstring injury.

"I think the last pass is missing, the final part to score the goal. Me and the club know very well this situation and for this reason we must have patience to understand there is a process and we are ready to face this process".

Further doubts have been cast over David Luiz's future at Chelsea as the Brazilian was only named on the bench despite Conte's rotation.

Since August 2014, Vardy has scored more Premier League goals against "big six" opposition than any other player (22 goals in 41 apps).

Morata, a July arrival from Real Madrid, has faced criticism of his performances on occasions this season, despite a return of 10 goals from 19 appearances in his maiden Premier League campaign.

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